A statue of the Oscar is seen during the 90th Annual Academy Awards on March 4, 2018, in Hollywood. (Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced major changes to future Oscar broadcasts early Wednesday in an attempt to rein in the show’s length (by presenting some unspecified categories during commercial breaks), shorten the months-long awards season (by moving up the ceremony by several weeks, beginning in 2020), and most controversial of all, adding a new category for outstanding achievement in popular film. While the board of governors probably hoped the fresh category would excite viewers and perhaps get those ratings up — spoiler alert — Hollywood pretty much hates it. Especially in the year of Black Panther.

The response from many in the industry has been overwhelmingly negative since the announcement early Wednesday, with Rob Lowe even declaring, “The film business passed away today.”

The film business passed away today with the announcement of the “popular” film Oscar. It had been in poor health for a number of years. It is survived by sequels, tent-poles, and vertical integration.

Personally, this feels like a HUGE step back for genre film. Dark Knight, LOTR, District 9, Get Out, & Shape of Water broke the mindsets that scifi and fantasy could be considered BEST PICTURE. Does this new POPULAR category give snobbier members an out? https://t.co/CeMf7B1Cul

Oh, Christ. AMPAS just announced that it will be presenting some awards off the air, and creating a new category to honor “popular films.” These are bad, pandering, desperation-based decisions and I hope they reconsider. >

It truly is something that in the year Black Panther, a movie made just about entirely by and with black people, grosses $700 million, the Academy’s reaction is, “We need to invent something separate…but equal.”

Here’s the ten highest-grossing films, when accounting for inflation aka America’s most “popular” films. Every single one was either nominated for or won Best Picture with the exception of “Snow White,” which was given an honorary Oscar. Popular films are films! pic.twitter.com/8wIB0NGyLh

The Academy did not provide details on which flicks would qualify for the category (“eligibility requirements and other key details will be forthcoming,” it said in a letter to its members), which sounds problematic already.

adding a “popular film” category sounds both incredibly vague and incredibly lame, but refusing to broadcast technical awards is much much worse and more depressing